Episode 102: Thorny Path (3)
Damian looked at the cursed sword with a disgusted expression.
“So, you lent Alexander Apple your power just to steal his body.”
The cursed sword had a way of leading its users to ruin, either by driving them mad or amplifying their darkest emotions. But the worst fate was when it took over their bodies entirely. It would use the body until it was worn out, then discard it and move on to the next victim.
“Correct! Absolutely right! I kept feeding my partner dark magic, and his body became perfectly suited for me,” the sword exclaimed, spinning gracefully like a dancer. “The result is perfect! It fits me like a glove.”
The sword’s voice was filled with excitement, but then it sighed deeply. “Ah… if only I had more time, I could have taken a human form instead of this.”
Damian shuddered at the thought. If the sword had fully taken over Alexander Apple’s body and infiltrated human society, the Apple Kingdom would have been thrown into chaos.
“Oh, right, this isn’t the time for that. I need to avenge my partner!” The sword clapped its hands, snapping Damian out of his thoughts. “My partner sacrificed himself for me! Who else will carry on his will if not me?”
Now transformed into a sword, Alexander Apple’s body radiated a dense, visible dark magic. The sheer force of it was enough to push Damian back. He planted his holy sword into the ground to steady himself, but the force continued to drive him backward.
“Hahaha! Ahahaha!” The sword’s laughter grew louder, and with it, the power it emitted increased. “I’m using my own power! I’m not being controlled by anyone else!”
The barrier Damian had set up began to tremble and crack. It was a high-level dark magic spell, designed to isolate a space completely, and not easily broken even with a powerful aura. Yet, the sword was destroying it just by releasing its dark magic.
“You have no idea how happy I am right now!” The sword extended a hand, and a blade emerged from its palm, exuding a thick, black aura that could be mistaken for an aura blade.
“Shall we start round two, my monstrous friend?” The sword vanished from sight before Damian could react, leaving him wide-eyed and unable to track its movements.
“Oops? Looks like it’s over already?” A voice came from behind him. As he turned, the sword swung down, unleashing a massive slash that split the building and tore through the barrier. It was an attack powerful enough to make it seem like the world itself was being cleaved in two.
“What?” The sword’s face showed confusion. Damian stood unharmed. “Why did the direction change? What did you do…?”
In that moment of the sword’s confusion, Damian spun around, his holy sword tracing a half-circle and slicing through the sword’s neck.
With a harsh sound, the sword’s body was pushed back. It looked at Damian with a surprised expression.
“Wow… you got me.”
Despite the direct hit, the sword was unscathed, while the holy sword’s blade was damaged.
“You’re tough as nails.”
If it had been a human body, Damian could have cut through it with his skill. But this body was no longer human; it was fused with the cursed sword.
“Tell me, what did you do just now? I clearly swung my sword, and it was an attack you couldn’t block. But then you did something, and the direction changed.”
Just before the sword struck, Damian had used his holy sword to employ a technique that altered the trajectory of the attack. It was difficult due to the sword’s immense power, but he managed to succeed.
“You wouldn’t understand even if I explained.”
“Wow, that’s a blow to my pride. But seeing as I don’t get it, you might be right,” the sword nodded, surprisingly quick to accept it.
“You’re quite the monster yourself. I felt a chill when you went for my neck, even if it was useless.”
The sword tapped its neck mockingly, taunting Damian.
“Whatever you do, it won’t matter… but keeping you alive doesn’t seem beneficial.”
The sword’s face lost its smile, replaced by a murderous intent. Seeing the sword ready to go all out, Damian clicked his tongue.
“A troublesome opponent.”
Unlike Alexander Apple, the sword was a complete high-class entity, with all its abilities in the realm of superhuman and wielded with exceptional skill. That alone was threatening, but it also had special abilities. It could make thorny vines sprout over a wide area to attack or harden its entire body for protection.
For Damian, the second ability was particularly vexing. Against Alexander Apple, he could handle it with his skill, but now, covered in metal, that was impossible.
“How do I break through that?”
Damian could use his acquired skills to overcome it, but he had a more efficient method in mind.
“This is a good opportunity. I needed a place to test that.”
Damian extended his hand forward. The tattoo on his wrist vanished, and a long spear appeared in the air.
“A spear? What’s a swordsman doing with a spear?” The sword tilted its head. “And it’s broken? What do you plan to do with that scrap?”
Damian planted the spear into the ground and murmured softly, “Erebus, it’s time to awaken.”
Erebus, bound to the spear’s end, absorbed all the surrounding dark magic. A strange wailing sound erupted, shaking the world as if an earthquake had struck, and the air screamed as if a typhoon had hit.
In the midst of it, the sword stared at Erebus, entranced, and muttered to itself, “A cursed sword?”
At first, it didn’t realize. But as Erebus absorbed the dark magic and unleashed its power, the sword could sense it.
What kind of object it was.
And how terrifying it was.
“No, it’s just similar, but it’s different from us!”
The sword shouted in panic.
Cursed swords recognized each other, created by demons, they saw each other as kin. But this was different. It wasn’t kin.
“You’re saying the same thing,” Damian noted. Every cursed sword that had seen Erebus in his past life had said the same thing.
That it wasn’t a cursed sword.
That it wasn’t one of them.
That it shouldn’t exist.
“What do you mean, ‘the same thing’…?”
“Enough chit-chat. Round two isn’t over yet.”
Damian gripped Erebus with both hands, ready to attack at any moment. Just that was enough to make the sword feel a chill. Every sense screamed a warning.
Danger.
Do not approach.
”…If you’re going to try, I won’t dodge.”
But the sword ignored the warning.
“That thing you’re holding seems pretty impressive…”
The sword raised its hand, and the thorny vines that had burst from the ground twisted to aim at Damian.
“Let’s see if it’s really as great as it seems.”
The sword was confident in its abilities. Whatever that weapon was, it couldn’t possibly handle the onslaught of thorns from all directions.
“I’ll turn you into a pincushion.”
The sword pointed at Damian, and the sky-darkening thorns rained down on him.
At that moment, Damian raised the spear, striking the ground with its base.
A wave radiated from the spear, slowly expanding and consuming the world. Everything it touched vanished without a trace.
“What is that…?” The sword spoke in disbelief.
The wave spread wide, turning the thorns gray upon contact, then disintegrating them from the edges.
“No, this can’t be…”
Erebus’s first power was the ability to corrode everything around it. Though weakened, it could temporarily enhance this ability by absorbing dark magic.
“No, no way… My thorns!”
The wave engulfed the sword, and it felt as if its entire body was being crushed by an invisible force. Its body began to corrode.
“Argh!”
Its body was disappearing in real-time. It tried to resist by drawing out dark magic, but it was futile.
In desperation, the sword turned to flee, driven by the singular thought of escaping this domain.
But his heavy body refused to cooperate. The agony of disintegration made it impossible to hold himself together.
Just then, footsteps echoed from behind. The Dark Sword slowly turned around.
It was Demian, approaching with a steady stride.
“De-Demian Haxen!”
The closer Demian got, the faster the corrosion spread, and the heavier his body felt.
“Stop… don’t come any closer…!”
The Dark Sword cried out desperately, but Demian didn’t halt. His body continued to break apart at an alarming rate.
“Please… stay away…!”
By the time Demian reached him, more than half of the Dark Sword had already vanished.
“Save me…”
He pleaded, his voice filled with desperation. Demian, however, seemed indifferent as he raised Erebus.
“I made a vow once. To never let creatures like you live.”
Panic flashed across the Dark Sword’s face. Just as he was about to beg, Demian brought Erebus down.
It shattered as easily as an eggshell.